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Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

@ihorbeaver • 9,377 subscribers

Building self-replicating robots.

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The advantage of developing own robot arm - you can turn everything over the top.

The advantage of developing own robot arm - you can turn everything over the top.

25,821 просмотров

Force feedback demo Force feedback is when joystick is pushing on your hand when something is pushing on the robot arm. Feeling the force - so much helpful to control the robot, that done well it allows you to do tasks even without visual feed. You can make an experiment: close your eyes - you can easily get the headphones out of the case. Also, visual information is often not enough. For example, you're trying to pull out a usb connector, but you pull it at the wrong angle, causing it to get stuck. Visually, nothing changes, but the pressure is intense and you can break the connector. Surgical robots have been using force feedback for years, and there are also 3D styluses which use this feature, proving that the technology works and is useful. But in modern robots with AI, it's hardly ever implemented. Although it's useful for both teleoperation and AI model. That's one of the reasons why we are building our robotic arms starting with off the shelf motors rather than taking the whole off the shelf arm. There are still a range of easy wins that can be made iterating robot hardware.

Force feedback demo Force feedback is when joystick is pushing on your hand when something is pushing on the robot arm. Feeling the force - so much helpful to control the robot, that done well it allows you to do tasks even without visual feed. You can make an experiment: close your eyes - you can easily get the headphones out of the case. Also, visual information is often not enough. For example, you're trying to pull out a usb connector, but you pull it at the wrong angle, causing it to get stuck. Visually, nothing changes, but the pressure is intense and you can break the connector. Surgical robots have been using force feedback for years, and there are also 3D styluses which use this feature, proving that the technology works and is useful. But in modern robots with AI, it's hardly ever implemented. Although it's useful for both teleoperation and AI model. That's one of the reasons why we are building our robotic arms starting with off the shelf motors rather than taking the whole off the shelf arm. There are still a range of easy wins that can be made iterating robot hardware.

18,773 просмотров

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We’re shipping an interchangeable gripper. Our main goal, as usual, is to make modern AI tools work in environments where you need reliability. Humanoid hands have their use cases, but it’s hard to pick up a tool firmly and control precisely with them. We made an alternative - an interchangeable gripper. The tool is fixed to the gripper in advance, and the whole hand is swapped. AI is quite good at generating this kind of custom tooling.

We’re shipping an interchangeable gripper. Our main goal, as usual, is to make modern AI tools work in environments where you need reliability. Humanoid hands have their use cases, but it’s hard to pick up a tool firmly and control precisely with them. We made an alternative - an interchangeable gripper. The tool is fixed to the gripper in advance, and the whole hand is swapped. AI is quite good at generating this kind of custom tooling.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

929,622 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

Model precision test. Trained with 2 minutes examples.

Model precision test. Trained with 2 minutes examples.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

323,414 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

Introducing MicroFactory A robot that automates repetitive manual work — starting with electronics assembly.

Introducing MicroFactory A robot that automates repetitive manual work — starting with electronics assembly.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

722,658 просмотров • 1 год назад

Strong magnets can make the environment self-resetting.

Strong magnets can make the environment self-resetting.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

96,301 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

Here is the full run of MicroFactory, that autonomously assembles a photo frame - a real product sold on Amazon. This is a good example of how to deal with complex tasks, while we do not yet have a large set of robotic data to train a big general ai model. Thread:

Here is the full run of MicroFactory, that autonomously assembles a photo frame - a real product sold on Amazon. This is a good example of how to deal with complex tasks, while we do not yet have a large set of robotic data to train a big general ai model. Thread:

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

209,938 просмотров • 10 месяцев назад

We have news! We created a new robotics model called Loop Model 1. On the zip-tie insertion task, it achieves 20x more throughput per unit of data than "Pi06 + RLT" from Physical Intelligence, a top model for such tasks. It’s the missing piece that makes MicroFactory work, because now deployment becomes so simple and fast that our users can do it themselves.

We have news! We created a new robotics model called Loop Model 1. On the zip-tie insertion task, it achieves 20x more throughput per unit of data than "Pi06 + RLT" from Physical Intelligence, a top model for such tasks. It’s the missing piece that makes MicroFactory work, because now deployment becomes so simple and fast that our users can do it themselves.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

77,013 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

Full run and a segment of a task. 100% from 16 examples. To play with continuous learning, your base model needs to be data-efficient and stable, which we tested here, because any irrelevant fluctuations can compound over time.

Full run and a segment of a task. 100% from 16 examples. To play with continuous learning, your base model needs to be data-efficient and stable, which we tested here, because any irrelevant fluctuations can compound over time.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

24,486 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

Watch me automate an assembly task in 5 minutes using MicroFactory. We don’t need to wait for some distant future to automate the final assembly of a gadget. The modern AI stack can already do this simply and cheaply. Demo:

Watch me automate an assembly task in 5 minutes using MicroFactory. We don’t need to wait for some distant future to automate the final assembly of a gadget. The modern AI stack can already do this simply and cheaply. Demo:

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

30,108 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

Introducing MicroFactory DevKit The first production version of MicroFactory — a general-purpose robot designed to automate manual work. With a glimpse of self-replication.

Introducing MicroFactory DevKit The first production version of MicroFactory — a general-purpose robot designed to automate manual work. With a glimpse of self-replication.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

130,985 просмотров • 10 месяцев назад

The advantage of arms with industrial internals is that they don’t wobble, so the AI model can control it faster by just multiplying frames per second. Here’s we multiplied the FPS by 3× compared to teleoperation (180 instead of 60).

The advantage of arms with industrial internals is that they don’t wobble, so the AI model can control it faster by just multiplying frames per second. Here’s we multiplied the FPS by 3× compared to teleoperation (180 instead of 60).

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

70,302 просмотров • 7 месяцев назад

Bare imitation learning without robotic pre-training is an unfairly overlooked area. (it doesn't even have a name) When done right, it has the advantages of programming. It’s reliable, predictable, easy to modify and debug. The only difference is that the source of truth is a small dataset instead of code. And it is glued together by a vision encoder and a transformer model instead of being compiled. It's hard to imagine how Claude Code could appear without a ton of production-grade source code hardened over years of real use. Same for robotic models. Here is the robustness of such a model. It was trained on orange zip ties with no lighting changes.

Bare imitation learning without robotic pre-training is an unfairly overlooked area. (it doesn't even have a name) When done right, it has the advantages of programming. It’s reliable, predictable, easy to modify and debug. The only difference is that the source of truth is a small dataset instead of code. And it is glued together by a vision encoder and a transformer model instead of being compiled. It's hard to imagine how Claude Code could appear without a ton of production-grade source code hardened over years of real use. Same for robotic models. Here is the robustness of such a model. It was trained on orange zip ties with no lighting changes.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

20,234 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

Robotic insight 2: One undocumented feature of VLA models is that they can generalize pretty well from very little data, if you run them on good hardware. Here, with 35 demonstrations (5 mins in total), robot can pick up small pcb from any position and at any rotation angle.

Robotic insight 2: One undocumented feature of VLA models is that they can generalize pretty well from very little data, if you run them on good hardware. Here, with 35 demonstrations (5 mins in total), robot can pick up small pcb from any position and at any rotation angle.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

47,571 просмотров • 7 месяцев назад

Threading the needle with our robotic arm. Good autonomy can’t be achieved without a solid arm to begin with.

Threading the needle with our robotic arm. Good autonomy can’t be achieved without a solid arm to begin with.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

81,803 просмотров • 1 год назад

Deployment is only the first step. You need to learn from it and take the next steps toward positive ROI. Our journey: Step 1. Nine month ago, our robot already assembled a complex real product for our customer, from start to finish. But it wasn’t reliable. Step 2. Our robot performed a complex benchmark task reliably 100 times in a row. Step 3. (Completing) Our robot assembling a complex real product from start to finish 100+ times in a row.

Deployment is only the first step. You need to learn from it and take the next steps toward positive ROI. Our journey: Step 1. Nine month ago, our robot already assembled a complex real product for our customer, from start to finish. But it wasn’t reliable. Step 2. Our robot performed a complex benchmark task reliably 100 times in a row. Step 3. (Completing) Our robot assembling a complex real product from start to finish 100+ times in a row.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

11,428 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

How to keep your fingers clean while eating chips? Use a robot! - $250 opensource robot with most advanced AI models inside (Tesla bot and Figure use them too) - 15 minutes of examples - $3 for training in Google Collab - Don't hesitate to give a star to the repo if it's interesting:

How to keep your fingers clean while eating chips? Use a robot! - $250 opensource robot with most advanced AI models inside (Tesla bot and Figure use them too) - 15 minutes of examples - $3 for training in Google Collab - Don't hesitate to give a star to the repo if it's interesting:

80,442 просмотров • 1 год назад

Below is our open-source arm assembled by one of the discord members! Also, today Physical Intelligence shared their incredible top-notch robotics model Pi0. And I just want to remind you that you can use our arm together with this model and with LeRobot The arm has the same DOF as the arm used by Pi0, but has smaller size and cost starts from 200$ per arm. You can use better motors like we did in our demos, then it will be more precise and stable but the price will be about $600 per arm. Printable files, purchase list, and help with the assembly - in our discord channel.

Below is our open-source arm assembled by one of the discord members! Also, today Physical Intelligence shared their incredible top-notch robotics model Pi0. And I just want to remind you that you can use our arm together with this model and with LeRobot The arm has the same DOF as the arm used by Pi0, but has smaller size and cost starts from 200$ per arm. You can use better motors like we did in our demos, then it will be more precise and stable but the price will be about $600 per arm. Printable files, purchase list, and help with the assembly - in our discord channel.

53,711 просмотров • 1 год назад

A few complex bin-picking grasps.

A few complex bin-picking grasps.

Igor Kulakov (MicroFactory)

13,182 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

Robotic insight 3 There’s a widely held view among leading robotics thinkers: the current priority is to automate some commercially profitable work to get real-world data. If you set the goal as “the first profitable deployment that also generates data” you get a few insights: - People with industry experience may be better positioned to nail this than academic researchers. - You can try to find non obvious initial domain, that’s easier to deploy in practice, while still provide useful data.

Robotic insight 3 There’s a widely held view among leading robotics thinkers: the current priority is to automate some commercially profitable work to get real-world data. If you set the goal as “the first profitable deployment that also generates data” you get a few insights: - People with industry experience may be better positioned to nail this than academic researchers. - You can try to find non obvious initial domain, that’s easier to deploy in practice, while still provide useful data.

19,659 просмотров • 7 месяцев назад